1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for enhancing a soiled porous surface and in particular a concrete surface. More particularly it relates to such a method which brightens the concrete surface and maintains the surface appearance.
2. Background
Concrete is a hardened mixture of Portland cement, water, silica sand, coarse aggregate and modifying additives.
Concrete is installed in a plastic state and dries to a hard surface. However, because of the air trapped in the mixture and the various components of concrete, it naturally includes minute air gaps or pores, which result in a less than smooth surface which is porous in nature. Additionally, these pores tend to be jagged edged rather than smooth in nature, resulting in soil being held or embed soil more firmly. Because of this, concrete tends to absorb or hold soils and is difficult to clean. These soils tend to darken the appearance of the concrete surface. Additionally, concrete surfaces become stained and unsightly over time.
For a number of years, concrete has been a popular material for use in floors for warehouses and manufacturing facilities due to its low cost, high durability and lower maintenance demands. However, appearance standards in warehousing applications were not of particular concern because of the function of such facilities. Most of these facilities were only exposed for viewing to the employees, suppliers, etc. of the facility, not the general public. In particular, as long as the floor was clean of debris and not slippery, not much attention was paid to overall brightness and staining of the concrete surface.
Recently, concrete and colored concrete have become more prevalent in retail and other commercial facilities because of its low cost and high durability. Clearly, because of the retail/commercial nature of these facilities, the overall appearance of the flooring surface is of considerable importance to the overall appearance of the retail facility and impression on a consumer.
A concrete floor in a normal retail environment or other facility will become very dark in all high traffic areas, with its pores filling up with debris both from inside the store as well as the parking lot. One can readily see “traffic lanes” or areas on the floor where it is apparent high concentrations of dirt and soils reside. The soils encountered in concrete applications include a combination of residual curing compounds, residual coatings, silica sand, clays, and asphaltic materials. Additionally organic soils from foods sold or sampled in the establishment, motor oils tracked in, dust, carbohydrate, fat, and protein soils from spills, dirt, etc. can be found on such surfaces.
Most methods of cleaning concrete surfaces have focused on a relatively small stained area, of perhaps oil or grease on an outdoor surface, such as a driveway or parking area. In these instances, a dry absorbent material is typically applied to the stain and swept around to absorb the stain, oftentimes with significant mechanical action. The soiled absorbent material is then swept up and disposed of in an appropriate manner. One such material can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,067. In some such systems, the absorbent material is moistened to activate a detergent material therein. Such material is then removed by sweeping with a broom.
Alternatively, a detergent composition can be applied directly to the stain and rinsed away. An example of such a system can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,784. All of these systems focus on discrete stains on relatively small areas of a surface.
In those instances where entire concrete surfaces have been addressed, traditional methods of maintaining these floors include cleaning with a neutral or alkaline cleaner or the use of a permanent or semi-permanent sealer or other coating. Unfortunately, typical cleaners do not enhance the brightness, shine or gloss of such surfaces. Additionally, while sealer and other permanent and semipermanent coatings improve overall gloss, over time they need to be removed and replaced at considerable expense.
In summary, a considerable number of deficiencies exist in the art relating to the enhancement, cleaning and maintenance of porous surfaces and in particular concrete. While prior art compositions and methods of treating a concentrated stain on concrete surfaces provide some cleaning, the labor intensive, time consuming, messy compositions and methods and cleanup of such compositions make them less than desirable and time consuming for use on larger surfaces, such as entire floors. Additionally, they provide less than optimum enhancement and cleaning on larger areas. Further, conventional floor cleaners and related methods do not address the unique cleaning requirements of porous surfaces such as concrete. Additionally, improved brightening and gloss is only minimally achieved with such conventional cleaners. Although the use of permanent and semi-permanent coatings provides improved gloss, the initial application expense and difficulty, and added expense in removing and replacing such coatings makes them less than desirable for use on concrete surfaces.
Thus, there is an ongoing search for a method of enhancing and maintaining porous surfaces such as concrete which can be easily used, provide improved enhancement, brightening and gloss while maintaining an acceptable method of application and maintenance to maintain the enhanced appearance. Clearly, there is a need for an improved method of enhancing a soiled porous surface and maintaining the appearance of such surface in an efficient, cost effective manner. In particular, there is a need for an improved method of enhancement and maintenance of porous surfaces, which overcomes the shortcomings of the methods of the prior art.